Military sci fi and military characters in sci fi

Thanks @Iain Aschendale. The Star Trek original series was a big hit at the Naval Academy in the 60s since it accurately paralleled shipboard organization and often realistic shipboard scenarios. If you are going to have a large ship with dozens or hundreds of crew members, it almost certainly would be organized along naval or merchant marine lines, for all the reason @EFMingo cited. A smaller ship, say a dozen or two, might be more along the lines of a bomber or transport aircraft, if it flew short missions. But if it flew a protracted mission, again it would be a shipboard organization with a watch, quarter and station bill, etc, because everyone cannot be on duty 24/7, but all duty stations must be continuously manned (how sexist! personned?) 24/7.

@K McIntyre is writing a WWII novel about a US doctor who joins the Royal Army Medical Corps in 1939 and is assigned to the 51st Highland Division. Believe me, we have gone through a TON of mostly non-fiction stuff, books and YouTube videos. Even a news reel of Polish Cavalry trying to take on tanks with lances (didn't work well). And got a video recorder that plays UK DVDs so we could watch Ice Cold in Alex, about a crew taking an Austin K2/Y "Katy" ambulance through the desert from Tobruk to Alexandria. Delightful show! Even got the diesel sounds of a German tank at idle.

So do your naval research, find sailors and talk to them. Read books. You might try getting a copy of the Bluejacket's Manual, the introductory book given out in boot camp to new sailors.

 

You might consider touring the battleships and carriers on display now, the New Jersey is in Philadelphia, Charleston has a carrier, submarine and destroyer for tours, Missouri in Pearl Harbor, Midway in San Diego, etc. This will give you a feel for what a large space ship might have

 

Actually, even though I just invoked @Lew, you might also try reading some Melville. Moby Dick and White Jacket contain quite a few descriptions of how the watches worked aboard sailing ships, and as Lew said, a big (ish) ship is a big ship. Pequod had between 30 and 44 crew members (Melville's math got a little sloppy. I forgive him) organized into four officers, each commanding a boat, a cook, a ship's boy, and... memory grows fuzzy. Key point was everyone aboard had multiple tasks.

 

Each surface vessel of the US Navy has a Facebook page, or each one I looked up before I hit over 100 and decided it wasn't a one-off thing.

They actually have a rating for Facebook posting. Who knew?

Anyway you can follow large aircraft carriers, destroyers, San Antonio class LPDs and lots more on Facebook to get a feel for just how big and complex each can be.

 

Recommend reading David Poyer's series. Try the latest ones, Tipping Point, Onslaught and Hunter Killer to see what life is like on a high tech Aegis cruiser in very realistic modern combat. BTW is on the sea literature board for the Naval Academy so he gets high marks for technical accuracy.